There are many reasons you want an iPod and many reasons why you should choose an iPod over all the other choices out there.

Why You Should Get an iPod ...

If you like having the ability to listen not just to music but music of YOUR choosing whenever and where-ever, you should give serious consideration to getting an ipod.

Sure, a Walkman or portable CD seems to fulfill some of those needs - But as someone who has personally made 1,000 mixtapes/CD - it's a lot of work to try and select the 10 songs on each side (and making sure it fits into the 45 minutes on each side), once it's done - you are stuck with that play order unless you drag out all those CD's again - and if you start hating one song - it's not easy to try and skip over that one song - what about a mix CD? Well, a little easier to skip over a song but again, you have to drag out CD's and find songs to fit on a CD (about 75 minutes long) and while you can set it to shuffle, you can't really jog with a portable CD player and you have to decide what CD's to take with you.

An ipod? An ipod can hold anywhere from a couple hundred to 15,000 songs - enough for every mood and every kind of music you want by just scrolling the scroll wheel and clicking. AND an ipod weighs from mere ounces and the LARGEST ipod is the size LESS than a deck of cards.

Yes, it's that simple and that convenient. Yes, it seems a lot of product promise to make things easier for you but the ipod actually delivers on that promise and while the ipod is considered to be a "fashion" item, but look beyond it's popularity - it's not a fad, it's simply delivers what it promises.

Ahh, The Ease of Use

But the biggest reason to get an ipod is that it has the simplest interface and it's the easiest to use. There isn't even a close second. Everything is on the scroll wheel. Touch it and your ipod comes to life. scroll up or down by spinning the ONE scroll wheel.

To see an example and to get more detailed info, you can go to the Apple iPod Website.

Scroll to MUSIC. Click ONCE and all your playlists come up. Scroll to your playlist, click once and click on any song it will start playing. Volume? Once a song is playing, the scroll wheel now becomes the volume control ... just to show you how well thought-out the device is? If you accidentally unplug your headphones? It PAUSES the music and waits for you to plug back in! The "lock" switch is on top - once you slide it over, accidental joshling (like when your jogging) has no affect - the settings are locked until you hit the tab again.

That's it. If you have opposable thumbs, that's all you need to know in how to operate the device! The IPOD SHUFFLE is even simpler. Click ON. Click PLAY. Go to NEXT track or PREVIOUS track.

How Does the Music get from my Computer to my ipod?

You can check out our GETTING STARTING WITH ITUNES page for full details.

But it's amazingly simple. Launch iTunes (free from Apple) - you can even download a copy BEFORE you get an ipod to play around with it. If you already have mp3 files, drag to the "Library." If you are brand new at this, insert a CD and it will scan the internet for title & artist info of that CD for you. Once you have the CD tracks as mp3's or as Mp4's (the choice is yours - see GETTING STARTING WITH ITUNES page again for details), they will be in your "library."

Then once you connect and everytime you connect your ipod, it will automatically synchronize the ipod to match your itunes library (once you feel comfortable, you have the option of turning off auto-sync).

Then Make a Playlist ...

Most people will want to create PLAYLISTS in which you are basically grouping the songs you like to listen together. Name the playlist and drag songs from your "library" to that playlist. The playlist name can be anything you want from MY FAVORITES to WORKOUT to I HATE MY JOB DRIVE HOME :-)

Why You Should Get an ipod Instead of One of the Others ...
There are Specs and there are SPECS

If you go entirely on specs - the ipod seem to have competitors. There are some slightly smaller (though they usually weigh more) or they have slightly larger hard drives or they have an FM tuner or a voice recording feature ...

The ipod is better in two distinct areas. First, yes, some other players have some additional features but in reality, they are merely "extras" so it seems like they are offering more than the ipod. For instance, some portable mp3 players offer a voice recorder but you CANNOT copy what you record off the player - what's the point? Or another option is in an FM tuner - frankly, if you like the radio as is with its 50% airtime filled with chatter & ads, then you don't really need an ipod. An FM tuner needs a powerful attenna like the one you have in your car - no portable device has that powerful of an attenna so you end up moving from clear to static to different static - all at full volume in your headphones - again, an extra feature so they can claim more than what the ipod offers but its usefulness is really questionable.

And instead of charging you for features you might not want to use, the other great thing about the ipod is there are 500 to 600 accessories for it. Everything from replacement headphones to protective cases (from $5 to $500 - ain't capitalism grand!) or voice recorders (that let you copy your recorded notes back off!). Ipodlounge.com has put together a great guide to everything available - just click here to go to that page to download the PDF file. There are even bizarre and fun add-ons like the flashlight :-)

What Else Can It Do?
It Can "Read" to You ...

The ipod is also one of the few that is directly linked to AUDIBLE which has something like 8,000 audio books you can buy (and download) directly into your ipod from itunes - and only the ipod gives you greater control like having the narrator reading faster or slower. And of course, the latest versions also allow you to load podcasts FREE directly from itunes.

For the Left Brain You, You Also Get ...

A calendar, an addess book, it can be used as an alarm clock, and you can even load notes on it. On the Mac side- everything syncs very nicely for free so you really have a mini PDA and Mp3 player all rolled into one. On the PC side, I think you have to buy a shareware utility but still pretty easy. For tech geeks, the iPod can also mount as a hard disk drive for backing up and copying files to - on the Mac, you can even set it up to boot from!

Photos ...

On the IPOD NANO & IPOD, there is a photo feature. You can drag photos in and show them off on the screen to friends & family - up to 25,000 photos! It can even be set up to sync your photo collection whether you have a Mac or a PC! And there's even a built in slideshow feature AND you can select a music track as its soundtrack!

Video ...

On the IPOD, now there is video! You can buy over 2,000 music videos, TV shows and Pixar short films for your ipod! You can also load your own - that takes a little more know-how and work but it can be done easily enough with either a PC or a Mac.

The iTunes Music/Video Store ...

Of course, one of the great reasons for the ipod is the itunes music store (which sells more than music, of course) ... it's as simple as clicking on STORE in ITUNES. To purchase a track is as simple as clicking GIMME GIMME ... kidding - but it's pretty close (just click BUY). Once you have set up an account (credit card, of course), then click to complete transaction and it will load it automatically onto your ipod. You can also buy pre-paid cards as gifts or set up accounts for kids - restricting them to a certain dollar amount per month and/or age appropriate material.

In Summary ...

The best way to describe the ipod versus its competitors is that the ipod was designed for music lovers by music lovers - the competition - they are portable hard drives that can play music.

And yes, I know - in this day of hype, hyperbole and more hype, it's hard to believe when anyone who tells you something is the the absolute class of the field with NO peers but it's the case here and I think the reason is the paragraph above. The ipod is well designed inside and out for people who love music - you don't want to spend a lot of time on getting it in the computer or figuring out how the damn thing works - you want to LISTEN TO MUSIC NOW and that's what the ipod is. The competitors think you want a portable hard drive and if it plays music, hey, it's like an ipod - and if the competitors were so much cheaper - maybe you can put with difficult useability but they are either only slightly or even more expensive once you factor in the cost of the memory cards.

And yes, some people are merely buying it because it's fashionable but the reality is that it's amazingly functional regardless of its fashion statement - and if you don't want to signal yourself as an ipod user, buy a camera case for your ipod and buy some $10 black headphones - you still have the best mp3 player on the planet yet you can still maintain your aloof status :-)

And just so you don't think I'm completely out there - this pretty much falls under the "Are you freakin' kidding me? In a recent Piper Jaffray study of 200 ipod users, 199 were satisfied with their ipod - how many other products can you name - regardless of price where 199 out of 200 users were satisfied with their purchase?! - and we're talking about a product that requires a minimal commitment of $249?! Here is a link to an SF Gate.com feature also discussing Apple's stock - scroll down about halfway to get a recap of the Piper Jaffray study.

And of course, the most trusted source for electronic gadgets and personal technology, Walter Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal has a recent review of three competitors to the ipod.

Below you will find some direct links to Amazon.com for ordering.

I know for some people the battery issue looms - not exactly sure why. My first generation iPod still holds 6 hours of charge (about what they originally promised) and the new ipods run from 12-18 hours - for those of you who really listen to 12-18 hours on your ipod AND you are not near an electricity source (any will do - AC plug, computer or even your car) - you might have bigger survival concerns. For the rest of us not stationed on a floating ice cap, re-charging the ipod is not a big deal.